When I see the many hues of green, I envy the perfection. Unlike my grade school envy of Heather, nature doesn’t magnify my own flaws.
Instead, I find solace in it.
Perfect peace.
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This is my response to Trifecta’s weekend challenge, which is to:
“We want you to follow suit and give us a thirty-three word piece that has a color in it. Use the color to describe anything you like, or use anything you like to describe your color, but keep it creative and keep it short.”
My heart immediately went to nature, and how God’s world soothes me when things feel off kilter. There are many colors in nature that ‘wow’ me, but I decided to stick with the seemingly simple, deceivingly complex, green.
This is another community-voted challenge, which means that readers have the opportunity to vote on their three favorites by visiting Trifecta’s site after the challenge closes on Sunday, at 8PM Eastern time.
Happy reading – and have a beautiful weekend!
JannaTWrites 
I like this, and the lovely picture!
Thanks so much for reading, Gabriella!
This is lovely.
Thanks, Draug. It is my peace 🙂
I especially like you naming your grade school nemesis a blurred color name, Heather. Ha. Details like that make it authentic (even if you made it up…go figure.)
I’m so excited you caught the naming, Angie…I hoped someone would 🙂 I was the biggest nerd ever, so I admired just about everyone with straight hair and teeth…Jennifer, Becky…Kim…Alison… Christy- and of course, Heather!
They are all Heathers! 👸
Haha, true!
Reblogged this on Change is Never Ending.
Thanks for the reblog, Duke…Haven’t seen you around in a while!
It has been a tough stretch. It is probably going to get even tougher the next few months. Regardless of that stuff. I need to write. I missed you guys. Its sort of funny how you get attached to people you don’t know. Remember the surgeries over 2 years ago? I go back to my neck surgery next week. I’m having problems with my right hand. I now deal in Antiques and stuff. I have started my own company. The last thing I need if for the neck to act up. Other than that life is boring. Oh there is one other thing. My marriage is in serious trouble.
I’m so sorry to hear of your troubles, Duke. Whenever someone goes missing, the optimist in me hopes it because the joys of life take them away from the computer screen 🙂 I remember you’d started the Etsy store…antiques seem like a good fit- might as well work with what we enjoy, right? I don’t know you, but I am surprised and saddened to hear of your marital troubles. I have added you to my prayer journal. I will keep you and your wife in my prayers.
Love that you used a person’s name as a colour.
Thanks, Bryan – I’m glad you liked it 🙂
Heather also happens to be my wife’s name…so it’s a name I’m rather fond of 🙂
Oh, that’s funny! It is a lovely name (I’ve moved past my grade school envy :))
Green is one of my favorite colors, Janna (the other is blue). I like how you’ve used the color green to evoke “perfect peace.”
Thanks, Debbie! I wanted to go from ‘green with envy’ to my peace amongst the green. (Green hasn’t always been a favorite color of mine. The car I drove in high school was green, and had belonged to my grandparents. It was like a tank, they would say 🙂
Enjoyed reading about your greens, Janna. My niece was given my dad’s yellow “tank.” She and her friends called it the Banana Boat. 🙂
That seems a good nickname for it, Patti! I’m glad you stopped by.
Right on target, as usual with you. Yeah, the Heather thing tickled my poetic sense right away, as if you had had some youthful infatuation with a shrub. Mine was Lilacs, since my grandmother had them planted all along our driveway, tweaking my grandfather’s sense of utility over beauty for beauty’s sake. Going on a day trip in a few…a new road built through the jungle which nobody has built anything on yet…a monkey playground, so far.
Later…
Thanks, Coyotero – I’m glad you caught “Heather” (and the idea of an infatuation with a shrub did make me smile :)) My grandparents had several lilac bushes. Loved the lavender flowers, but was scared of the bees. Have fun on your day trip!
Love the juxtaposition of the pain of envy with the true beauty of the color.
Thanks, Deb. Green really is a nice color 🙂
The disadvantage of reading other peoples before you do yours is that you can get discouraged. Damn you 🙂
You’re funny, Paul! You wrote a memorable piece, so you don’t have anything to worry about. (But I do know what you mean about reading what others post. If I read them before I posted, I’d never try.)
I soooo wanted to know about Heather, which implies that the first two lines are a perfect, truly perfect beginning to a longer story. Not that this wasn’t honest and lovely as is.
Thanks, Jennifer! Heather was my friend for a short time. She was blonde, outgoing, tan skin- pretty much everything I wasn’t. My insecurities consumed me, and I always felt inadequate around her.
I love this. I am very familiar with feeling diminished by the beauty of others. Gardening has helped me get passed that (along with lots of other things). I love that a flower, tree or landscape can be beautiful enough to bring me to tears, and being in my garden makes me part of that prettiness.
You describe it so beautifully, Kitty. Yes, we are on the same wavelength. Even imperfection in nature (a flower missing petals, for instance) still manages to be beautiful. How sad that our insecurities prevent us from seeing ourselves the same way.
In one word, aesthetic:)
Thanks for reading, Vishal!
Nature is my place for peace too. The tall, lush, trees, the towering peaks and craggy rock faces, the deep valleys, and the swift, cool, rivers running through them. If I could, that’s where I would be every day.
Yeah, I want to go where you described, DJ 🙂 I try to find places with water and waterfalls whenever I can. I’m in Arizona, so the trees aren’t exactly lush and rivers are hard to come by, but at least we have Ponderosa Pines.
There are some good places by Prescott and Jerome where you can find a combination of water, trees, “mountains.” My brother lives in Phoenix now and he goes out and finds cool spots all the time…
I love how you put quotes around mountains. It’s all relative, I guess!
I haven’t been to Prescott/Jerome very often. We really enjoy Oak Creek Canyon (near Sedona) and there are some pretty places as you near the Mogollon Rim, too. (Woods Canyon Lake is nice…they had eagles nesting when we were there last year.)
None of our wooded areas are as green or densely vegetated as other parts of the country. When we hiked in Shenandoah last month, I couldn’t believe all the green. I also couldn’t believe all the sweat that dripped down my face, thanks to the 1,000% humidity 🙂 Arizona ain’t so bad!
Oak Creek – I think that’s one of the places my brother goes. It sounds familiar. I think he may go up by Flagstaff too…
Yes, mountains in quotes. That’s just me being silly. It’s hard to think of anything other than the Sierras that I lived near my whole life as mountains.
🙂 Here, anything that is more than a flight of stairs is a mountain!
Hahaha… well, I didn’t say it.
Lovely, Janna. Nature nurtures.
Well said, Nancy 🙂
I agree with, Nancy.
🙂 Me too!
I like the idea that envying nature gives us peace and serenity rather than magnifying our own flaws…
Thanks for reading, GodGirl! It’s hard to resist the beauty of nature.
My experience has been that the natural world has a way of putting things in perspective and certainly provides a sense of peace. I’m a city girl so excursions into nature are just that- journeys. Enjoyed.
I lived in a city for many years and thoroughly enjoyed exploring nature. Now, I just get to do it more often, closer to home 🙂 Thanks for reading, LaTonya!
I like the way you invite us to revel in nature’s perfection and challenge the way we compare ourselves with others: why can’t we revel in their delights? Great question!
Exactly, Allen. I don’t know why it’s so hard to accept our own beauty beyond our imperfections, either
I’ve loved green ever since Kermit sang about it. Your piece gives further perspective. Really nicely done, Janna :)))
Kermit is a lovely shade of green! Thanks so much for reading, Jo-Anne 🙂
It’s astonishing (astonishing!!) how many shades of green nature is capable of bestowing upon us. Like you, I find solace in the wonder nature brings. Beautiful sentiment in this poem, Janna.
I’m so glad you can relate to this, Kallanannie! It is amazing how many greens nature can produce. I like them all!
Aah, envy. I don’t do that any more, but we’ve all been there… I enjoyed this, it’s clever.
Envy isn’t the most attractive shade of green. Thankfully, I don’t wear it often 🙂 Thanks for reading, Freya!
Love this line: “nature doesn’t magnify my own flaws” – beautifully said! And I love your use of Heather too. Clever, well-written piece!
Thanks, Suzanne. I’m glad you stopped by to read and share your thoughts!
That’s beautiful, Janna.
Thanks, Susan!
Lovely Janna. ‘Solace’ in nature I’d agree with that.
I’m glad you can relate to solace in nature, Summerstommy2. Thanks for stopping by!
Green is so soothing. Lovely.
I appreciate you reading, Yarnspinnerr. Green in nature is so beautiful!
🙂
I have to comment in order to be able to sign in again so I can like things. I love green.
Your computer issues must be driving you nuts, Tessa! Usually before I start commenting, I log into my WordPress account and leave it open while browsing, liking and commenting in another tab in that session. I don’t want to jinx it by stating I haven’t had issues, so I’ll leave that part off 😛
I am having all kinds of issues. I haven’t been on much lately because I am tired of all of them LOL! I still read your posts even if I can’t like or comment though.
This is lovely, Janna. Well done 😀
Thanks, Dianne! I appreciate you stopping by to read it 🙂
I loved this Janna. And I hate Heather! 😀
😛 Thanks for the smile, Linda!
For us green rings in prosperity. But I like the way you relate it to peace. Lovely
Thanks so much, Ruby!
This is so lovely, Janna! ❤
Thanks, Dana. I appreciate you reading it!
This is really beautiful.
Thanks, Kelly!
I find a lot of peace and comfort in nature too.
By looking at your beautiful photography, I believe that is true, Tara!
A lovely piece and a great take on the prompt. I particularly enjoyed the contrasting thoughts on ‘envy’
Thanks so much for reading, Mike! I’m glad you liked it.
I find solace in nature too. It makes the Heathers of this world insignificant. This is wonderful, Janna!
Thanks, Valerie. Nature does make the Heathers and other worries melt away. (Great observation!)
Nature is indeed full of perfection, if we are willing to see it. This is lovely!
Yes, we have to have open eyes and willing minds, Tina. Even when I was tired of the desert, I decided to force myself to find beauty amongst the brown. Once I started looking, I found lots to take photos of.
Very true. Great comparison! 😀
I’m glad you see it, Windandlaughter 🙂
This was a peaceful 33 words…I had to look up the word ‘heather’, I like when that happens! I have seen the hue when I lived a stint in Wash State. Gorgeous!
All colors in nature have beauty (in my opinion). I’m glad you liked my words about nature, Shawn- thanks for reading!
This is wonderful. I didn’t read the comments, so I’m sure this has been said, but I love how you very deftly use both envy and nature to convey green.
“Unlike my grade school envy of Heather, nature doesn’t magnify my own flaws.”
Great line! Really drives home the point and makes me dislike Heather. 🙂
Thanks, Ivy! It is close to my heart (because it’s true), so I’m really glad you liked it 🙂
green is such a peaceful color – you captured that well . . . also the dislike of Heather’s envy came through well. 🙂
Thanks, Barbara. I’m sure you see lots more green in AK than I do here 🙂 (Actually, I cheated with the photo – it wasn’t taken in Arizona…it was from Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.) I’m glad the difference in envy came through clear.
Perfection vs envy. One is solace, the other jealousy. Both are green. N.I.C.E.
You summed it up perfectly – in even fewer words than I did 🙂 Thanks for reading, Let’s Cut the Crap! (I had fun typing that!)
Great and when we cross paths again, you can call me Tess.
I will do that…Tess 🙂
You’ve captured my feelings about nature … “perfect Peace”.
Perfect!
I’m glad you could relate, Joanne!
Nice one, the use of Heather 🙂 Sometimes we see green in green.
Thanks for reading, Eric. I was pleased that others seemed to relate to this one. It’s nice when there is a connection!
Love the play on words with name and color! Nice choice of object for the color, too. Ever since I was little, I was told that green was easiest on the eyes; no wonder it’s calming and peaceful!
Thanks, Sandra! Green in nature is vibrant, yet soothing.